Bob Thurman Podcast:

Shantideva: The Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, Part 1 – Ep. 85

Shantideva is the author of one of the most studied texts in the Buddhist canon — A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life. In this episode, Professor Thurman reads from this text the verses dedicated to anger and patience or tolerance, and explains the meaning as he goes along. This is the first of a two-part episode on the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life. This episode was recorded on October 20, 2015 in a class taught by Professor Thurman.

Bob Thurman_The Bodhisattva's Way of Life, Part 2 - Ep 86

Emptiness Means Relativity – Ep 84

In this episode Professor Thurman explains that a Buddhist concept of “emptiness” or “voidness” doesn’t mean a “no state” apart from everything, or “nothingness”. Emptiness means that everything is empty of any non-relational isolated component. Emptiness is relativity, and we are totally interconnected (mentally and physically) beings. This podcast was recorded on July 1, 2015 at Menla Mountain Retreat Center as part of a retreat called “Shakyamuni Buddha’s Inner Sciences & His Medicine Bu...

Bob Thurman_The Bodhisattva's Way of Life, Part 1 - Ep 85

Bob Thurman_Emptiness Means Relativity - Ep 84

Pilgrimage : The Four Transcendences – Ep. 83

In this podcast Professor Thurman discusses a famous Buddhist concept of the “four transcendences,” or the “four thoughts that change the mind”: 1. The preciousness of the human life of liberty and opportunity; 2. Realization of immediacy of death, empowering one to live one’s best in the moment; 3. The inexorability of the effects of one’s actions; and 4. The suffering of the “wheel of samsara” or “the ignorance-dominated life form.” This episode was recorded in Bhutan as part of the Geogr...

Bob Thurman_The Four Transcendences - Ep 83

Pilgrimage : Ten Skillful Actions – Ep. 82

In this podcast Professor Thurman explains how we can apply the tenfold path of positive/skillful evolutionary actions to shape our lives in a positive direction and improve our evolutionary conditions. This tenfold path is comprised of three physical skills, four verbal skills and three mental skills. In Dalai Lama’s book Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World they are referred to as secular ethics of body, speech and mind. This episode was recorded in Bhutan as part of the Geographic E...

Bob Thurman_Ten Skillful Actions to Better Your Life - Ep 82

Faith, Doubt, Skepticism & Intuition – Ep 81

In this podcast Professor Thurman discusses the importance of right understanding of faith, the ability to apply doubt and skepticism on the Buddhist path without taking it to the extreme of materialism, and developing tolerance of cognitive dissonance. Professor Thurman then engages into a very interesting discussion about what intuition is and how to differentiate it from the subtle conceptual mind. This episode was recorded on March 11, 2016 at the “Embracing the Sacred Feminine” Retreat...

Bob Thurman_Faith, Doubt, Skepticism, Intuition - Ep 81

How Free Are We in Our Choices? – Ep 80

In this podcast Professor Thurman explains how freedom in our choices depends on whether we are living consciously or unconsciously. There is no such thing as “meant to be”, however, each action brings about a particular result. For example, being a victim of circumstances — Professor Thurman continues — can be seen as a result of an action performed in the past and can be empowering when we take its blame upon ourselves. Also, Professor Thurman explains how we can not only live, but die con...

Bob Thurman_How Free Are We in Our Choices - Ep 80

Bare Awareness – Ep 79

In this podcast professor Thurman introduces great Buddhist masters Vasubandhu and Dignaga. Vasubandhu was a brother of the famous Asangha, who met with the future Buddha Maitreya. Vasubandhu wrote a famous work of the Abhidharmakosha (The Treasury of the Clear Science), which is the third of the “three baskets” of the Buddhist teachings (vinaya, sutra and abhidharma – are the three baskets). The Abhidharma brings out the Buddhist psychology in the most systematic fashion. Dignaga (who was ...

Bob Thurman_Bare Attention - Ep 79

Roadmap for the Bardo – Ep78

In this podcast Professor Thurman teaches how each of us creates causes and conditions throughout our life, and how the consequences of those causes will go with us as our consciousness continues into the journey after death (“bardo”) and finds new embodiments. As long as we are helpless victims of our unconscious, we will be drawn by impulses, and our next birth will be an “impulse purchase.” This episode was recorded on July 25, 2014 at the “Hiking in the Catskills” Retreat at Menla Mount...

Bob Thurman_Roadmap for Bardo - Ep78

The Enlightenment of the Buddha – Ep 77

In this podcast Professor Thurman reads a description of Buddha’s Enlightenment from his translations found in “The Jewel Tree of Tibet” providing historical & meditative context. Professor Thurman goes on to consider why we do not remember our previous lives, discusses the meaning of nirvana and explains the concept of Samantabhadra. “The Buddha was in the land of Magadha in the state of purity under the tree of enlightenment, having just realized true awareness . . .” Robert AF Thurman ...

Bob Thurman_The Enlightenment of the Buddha - Ep 77

“No Eye, No Ear, No Nose” – Ep 76

In this podcast Professor Thurman teaches the meaning of the cornerstone Buddhist concept of “emptiness.” Many people confuse it with the idea of nothingness; Professor Thurman points out, and continues: experientially, emptiness means that everything is there, but it is there with a mirror image reflection-like or an illusion-like quality. The realization of emptiness means that your perception of any seeming object is an interaction where you — the subject — are very powerful in determinin...

Bob Thurman_No Eye, No Ear, No Nose_ – Ep 76

Tibetan Book of the Dead – What Is It About? – Ep. 75

In this podcast Professor Thurman talks about the Tibetan Book of the Dead. The Tibetan name of this book — The Bardo Thodol — literally means The Book of Natural Liberation through Understanding in the Between. A being can be liberated in “the between” (the term is often translated as “intermediate state”), the period after death but prior to rebirth. This liberation takes place through hearing and understanding, because the being in the between is said to become nine times more intelligent...

Tibetan Book of the Dead – What Is It About? Ep. 75

In this podcast Professor Thurman talks about the Tibetan Book of the Dead. The Tibetan name of this book — The Bardo Thodol — literally means The Book of Natural Liberation through Understanding in the Between. A being can be liberated in “the between” (the term is often translated as “intermediate state”), the period after death but prior to rebirth. This liberation takes place through hearing and understanding, because the being in the between is said to become nine times more intelligent...

Bob Thurman_The Tibetan Book of the Dead – What is it about_ – Ep 75

Re-creating the World of Suffering as Bliss – Ep. 74

In this podcast Professor Thurman explains three steps to re-create the world of suffering as the world of bliss. The first step is seeing true selflessness or emptiness — the negational freedom from all fixation to non-relative structures or non-relative core that we assume things and ourselves have. By following this insight deeply through the practice of critical analysis, one can reach an experience, in which everything, including oneself, disappears into a vast, luminous, deeply-releas...

Bob Thurman_Creativity_Re-creating the World of Suffering as the World of Bliss – Ep 74

The Preciousness of Human Life – Ep 73

In this podcast Professor Thurman explains why, according to the Buddha, the human life is precious. Being able to change oneself by opening to a new insight; having intelligence, which animals do not have; expanding one’s empathy and sensitivity – these are just a few of the freedoms which make human life so precious. Professor Thurman also clarifies that the Buddhist concept of “emptiness” is not to be confused with the concept of “nothingness” espoused by some modern scientists. This epi...

Bob Thurman_The Preciousness of Human Life – Ep 73

What is Enlightenment? – Ep 72

In this podcast Professor Thurman teaches that enlightenment is not defined as awareness of space of light, which is somewhere else, not here, in some imagined opposition to this place of light and dark that is filled with all the world’s problems, from which one should escape. That is not the Mahayana definition of enlightenment. In the Mahayana, and therefore in the Buddha’s definition, enlightenment is expanding your sense of identification, in particular, of identifying oneself with othe...

Bob Thurman_What is Enlightenment_ - Ep 72

Vimalakīrti’s Verses : Illusion-like Samadhi – Ep. 71

In this podcast Professor Thurman explores different stages of Buddhist meditation. When the ‘space-like equipoise samadhi’ disappears, what is there [left]? – Professor Thurman asks the audience and proceeds to answer: everything that was there before is there. But the meditator now sees appearances with the realization that they are like a reflection of the moon in water, like a magician’s trick, like magic, like illusion. This experience is called ‘the illusion-like aftermath samadhi’. T...

Bob Thurman_Illusion-like Samadhi - Ep 71

Pilgrimage : Tolerant Patience – What is it? – Ep. 70

In this podcast Robert A.F. Thurman talks about anger, patience and compassion. Explaining that the fuel for anger and intolerance is frustration and mental discomfort, Professor Thurman advises us not to let this build up, and instead learn how to use this energy skillfully. Podcast includes an introduction to the history of Atisha, Shantideva & to Professor Thurman’s teaching on Creative + Humorous Rudeness. This podcast was recorded during the Tibet House US + GeoEx Trip Indonesia trip ...

Bob Thurman_Tolerant Patience - What is it_ -Ep 70

It’s Your Choice: to Be Happy, or to Be Miserable – Ep 69

In this podcast Professor Thurman reads and comments on an excerpt from The Avataṃsaka Sutra, which describes a cosmos of realms enfolding realms, infinite world systems mutually containing one another. Professor Thurman teaches that this infinite cosmos is governed by a principle called “the emptiness [shunyata] of everything.” When you realize that, then your life becomes your work of art: everything you say, all your gestures, how you hand somebody a tea cup, the way you walk and your pos...

Bob Thurman_It's Your Choice_ to Be Happy, or to Be Miserable - Ep 69

Genesis of Buddhism in Tibet – Ep 68

In this podcast Professor Thurman talks about causes and conditions which brought about Buddha’s teaching in Tibet, and how Buddhism transformed society. This episode was recorded on November 11, 2015 in a class taught by Professor Thurman.

Bob Thurman_Genesis of Buddhism in Tibet - Ep 68

The Four Noble Truths & the Eightfold Path – Ep 67

In this episode Professor Thurman explains the cornerstone teachings of the Buddha: the teaching about the Four Noble Truths, and the teaching about the Eightfold Path. This episode is an excerpt from the lecture given at Tibet House US in New York City, January 6, 2016, as part of a course called “Force for Good: Buddhist Sources and Practices Beyond Religion.”

Bob Thurman_The Four Noble Truths & the Eightfold Path - Ep 67

Do We Need to Believe in Past & Future Lives to Become Enlightened? – Ep. 66

Should we abandon traditional Buddhist views unproven by scientific materialism, labeling them antiquated and irrelevant? What would be the implications of doing so for our study and practice? This episode is an excerpt from the thought-provoking and lively lecture “Past & Future Lives: Is Enlightenment Possible Without Them?” with Robert Thurman, given at Maitripa College in Portland, OR on April 8, 2016. Do We Need to Believe in Past & Future Lives to Become Enlightened? – Ep. 66 Photo b...

Bob Thurman_Do We Need to Believe in Past & Future Lives to Become Enlightened_ - Ep 66

Transcendent Wisdom & Transcendent Love – Ep 65

In this episode Professor Thurman explains the concept of “intrinsic reality” and how it is different from the concept of “relational reality.” He continues by explaining “emptiness,” how it has often been misunderstood for nothingness, and how emptiness is the quality of the relationality of everything, the fact that everything is empty of any non-relational component. By internalizing our understanding of emptiness we realize what is called transcendent wisdom. Out of transcendent wisdom, ...

Bob Thurman_Transcendent Wisdom & Transcendent Love - Ep 65

Vimalakīrti’s Verses : Buddhalands – Ep. 64

In this podcast Professor Thurman explains what are Buddhalands and talks about different Buddhalands, based on the Vimalakirti Sutra, which he translated and has been teaching for nearly forty years. “Vimalakīrti’s Verses : Buddhalands – Ep. 64” was recorded on March 17, 2016 at the “Vimalakirti, Prajnaparamita & Avatamsaka Sutras” workshop at Tibet House India. Photo by Benjamin Balázs on Unsplash This week’s episode’s of the Bob Thurman Podcast was brought to you in part through the su...

Bob Thurman_Buddhalands as Taught in Vilamakirti Sutra - Ep 64

Eight Stages of Dissolution into Death – Ep. 63

According to Tibetan Buddhism, when we lose consciousness and faint, or fall asleep, we go through the same eight stages, but we don’t normally notice this process. In this podcast Professor Thurman explains what these stages are, and how they are experienced by us. This episode was recorded on February 28, 2016. Eight Stages of Dissolution into Death – Ep. 63 of the Bob Thurman Podcast Yamantanka image via www.himalayanart.org. This week’s episode’s of the Bob Thurman Podcast was brought...

Bob Thurman_Eight Stages of Dissolution into Death - Ep 63

Life of Shakyamuni Buddha : Buddhist History 101 – Ep. 62

In this podcast Professor Thurman gives a brilliant compelling account of Buddha’s birth and path to Enlightenment. The account is enriched by his wide-ranging scholarship and familiarity with so many different sources of Buddha Shakyamuni’s life story. This episode is an excerpt from the lecture given at Tibet House US in New York City, January 6, 2016, as part of a course called “Force for Good: Buddhist Sources and Practices Beyond Religion.” Life of Shakyamuni Buddha : Buddhist History...

Bob Thurman_Birth and Life of Shakyamuni Buddha - Ep 62